


Heirloom Necklace

by Spiltlava



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2015-06-04
Packaged: 2018-04-02 22:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4075912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spiltlava/pseuds/Spiltlava
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Theoin finally opens up to Alistair about his father's necklace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heirloom Necklace

If there was one thing Alistair never fail to notice, it was that Theoin always had a necklace around his throat that shimmered in the evening sun, when he untucked it from under his armour to protect it, and disappeared behind his hand as he clutched it tight. He first noticed it the night the new Warden awoke from his nightmare about the Archdemon, and his hand grasped the necklace like it was a lifeline, or a protection from whatever he'd heard or seen. Alistair wanted to ask, but it wasn't his place. If Theoin had a story to tell him about that necklace and it's importance to him, he'd come to him about it. Otherwise? He could wait. It was obviously Dalish made, and important to him, so the human had just suspected it had been his clan's. A remembrance of what he had to give up to come and save Thedas. It was when he can the elf began a... Budding romance, that surprised Alistair to the core, because he wasn't expecting to feel any more than a deep trust. That isn't to say that he didn't, because of course he did, he trusted Theoin with his life. But this was... New. But it was when they began their unusual romance did he think to perhaps bring it up. After another of his nightmares, when the younger joined him by the fire, did he nudge him, strangely silent. Theoin's hand was clasped around his necklace. The curiosity was too much. 

"That necklace must be very special to you." It was a shoddy attempt at a beginning, because anyone who paid enough attention for see that. But he still said it, because he doesn't think before he speaks sometimes. Theoin pulled it out, and let Alistair see it, from his palm. There were countless wooden beads of various sizes and colours, carved into animls of the forest. He could make out deer, wolves, rabbits, even a hawk here and there, curling around the entirety of the necklace like they were chasing each other. Intricate, and obviously made from someone who was very skilled. The ex-templar was impressed, to a point. He wasn't really one for necklaces, but this was... He could admire beauty when he saw it, obviously. 

"It is." A short answer, and he didn't elaborate. For a moment, Alistair worried if he'd said something wrong, had already messed up before he could begin, and he had half a mind to get up and walk away, and pretend it never happened-- "It belonged to my father." --Oh. 

"Your father?" That... Wasn't what he expected. 

"Yes, he... He was the clan's keeper, before Marethari. My mother was a hunter, like I. They were from different clans, and it wasn't... It wasn't approved, so they met in secret." The Dalish elf took a breath, as if to steady himself, or to stop from talking. Either or. 

"...Was?" The ex-templar almost didn't want to ask, didn't want to know the story any more. 

"He's dead. He died while my mother was heavy with child. Heavy with me." A pause, and this time Theoin did continue on. "Bandits caught them alone, in the forest. Shemlen, I think. I never asked. I thought they died together, but, I was wrong." The feeling to wrap his arm around Theoin was almost overpowering, and Alistair realised that this was the most he'd spoken at once to him. The elf was always more of actions than words. It seem to show, too, by the way he'd moved the fingers of his free hand as he spoke. Illustrating a story that only he could see. 

"My mother, she... Ashalle told me she held on long enough to give birth to me. To bring me into the world, but then," Another breath, and that time he did put his arm around him, coiled him in close, and Theoin was stiff for the longest moment. His eyes were unfocused, like he wasn't really there. "I'm not sure if it was because I looked so much like him, or not, but she walked into the moonlight. She didn't come back. I never knew this story, and it was nothing like the one I had constructed in my head." 

"I'm sorry, that can't be easy." He offered, but it felt too short, not enough. Despite that, the shorter shook his head, and then nudged the crown of it under Alistair's chin gently, shifting until his face was just about in his throat. "I should never have brought it up." 

"No, it feels better to talk about it. Like you and... You and Duncan. How are we to recover if we don't express what's bothering us. This is... Fine. I feel better. More at ease." A half shrug of the shoulder that wasn't tucked against Alistair's breastplate. It couldn't be comfortable, at all, but neither complained. 

"For what it's worth, I'm glad you told me. More so that it helps."


End file.
